Mouthpiece for brass wind instruments



I. T. KING MOUTHPIECE FOR BRASS WIND INSTRUMENTS.

APPLICATION FILED IAN. II, I9I8.

Patented Mar. 21, 1922.

JNVE'NT'DR 1% 'To all coir-07a it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

JAMES T. 'KI'NG, -0F TORONTO, "ONTARIO, CANADA.

MOUTHPIEGE "FOR :IBRASS WIND INSTRUMENTS i Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 1VIa1' 21,*1:9 22 Applicatiomfiled January 1.1 191.8. Se'riaL'No. 21;;354.

(enan'rnn manna THE Revisions or runner pa am 1e21, {1,11STAT. L., 1313.

Belit known't'hat I, JAMES T. KING, of

the city of Toronto, in the county of York, Provinceof Ontario, Canada, a subject of the King of Great Britain, have in-vented certain new and useful Improvements in Mouthpieces for Brass Wind Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to mouth pieces such as are employed with cornets, trumpets, horns and the like. In such mouth pieces a rim against which the player presses his lips surrounds a cup-shaped cavity,-

which merges more or less gradually or abruptly as the case may be with the bore of the mouthpiece.

It is well known that the quality of the tone produced by the use ofa mouthpiece depends on the shape and proportions of the cup and the character of the throat where the cup merges into the bore, and my object is to devise a form of mouthpiece which, with necessary modifications, is applicable for use in the mouthpieces of cup form of the brass instruments employed in bands and orchestras to enable the performer to secure with ease certain tone characteristics not ordinarily, or in some'cases. not easily obtainable with ordinary mouthpieces. In the case of the euphonium these desirable characteristics may be briefly set forth as follows 1. The tone all through should be round, fluty and pervading.

2. In the upper register, the tone should be clear and full, not shrill or brassy;

3. In the lower register, the tone should be mellow, rich and with great solidity or body.

These qualities I obtain by means of the special form of the cup of the mouthpiece hereinafter particularly described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 is an end view of my improved mouthpiece Fig. 2 a longitudinal section of the same;

Fig. 3 an elevation of the same; and

Fig. 4 a longitudinal section of a slight modification.

In the drawings like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different figures.

The main elements of the mouthpiece which is integrally made and of fixed form and dimensions are the rim 1, the cup 2, the throatfiand the bore 4Q The rimitmay be ofanyjordinary form,

and size as far as its external parts are concerned. The cup 2, however, departs entirely fromknown forms inasmuch as it is given a diameter immediately below the rim somewhat greater than the opening at the rim so as to produce an enlargement of the cup adjacent the rim.

This enlargement is preferably produced by giving the longitudinal sectional contours of the inner surfaces of the rim, cup and throat the form shown in the drawings.

, It will be noted that the inner surface of the rim is convexly curved, the convex curve mergmg into the concave curve of the enlargement of the cup and this concave curve merging in turn into the convex curve of the throat. The longitudinal section curve referred to is thus a double ogee, as the direction of the curve changes twice in its length.

Preferably the difference between the greatest diameter of the cup and the least diameter of the opening at the rim will be less than the distance between the point of least diameter of said opening and the point at which the diameter of the interior of the cupagain becomes the same as the least diameter of the opening at the rim.

While the form shown in Fig. 2 is my preferred construction, particularly for the euphonium, the shape of the mouthpiece may be widely varied without departing from the spirit of my invention as long as an enlargement of the cup below therim with curved outlines is retained. The cup, for instance, may be concave adjacent the throat and the bore and throat meet at an angle as shown in Fig. 4,. To those skilled in the art, other slight changes will be obvious which may be made to suit the.

ments, in which a cup provided with a rim integral therewith communicates with a suitable bore, having the longitudinal sectional contours of the lnner surface of the cup of an ogee shape to form a concave enlargement of the cup below the rim merging into a convex throat where the cup joins the bore.

4. A mouthpiece for brass wind instruments, in which a cup provided with a rim integral therewith communicates with a suitable bore, having the longitudinal sectional contours of the inner surfaces of the rim and cup of a double ogee shape to form a convex inner edge to the rim and a concave enlargement of the cup below the rim merging into a convex throat where the cup joins the bore.

Signed at Toronto, Canada, this 31st day of Dec. 1917.

JAMES T. KING. 

